


Obsessions

by DHW



Series: GrangerSnape100 [6]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Community: grangersnape100, Dark, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-22
Updated: 2016-06-22
Packaged: 2018-07-16 14:59:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 400
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7272802
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DHW/pseuds/DHW
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hermione likes to read. She finds comfort in text and paper, in paragraphs and punctuation.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Obsessions

**Author's Note:**

> **Challenge:** Addictions
> 
>  **Disclaimer:** I do not own these characters. They belong to JKR. I make no money.
> 
>  **A/N:** AU and OOC.

Hermione likes to read. She finds comfort in text and paper, in paragraphs and punctuation. Comfort another could never give. Books are not fickle and vindictive. They don’t talk, look, or love.   
  
They don’t breathe.   
  
She turns the page of Hogwarts: A History with a lightly trembling hand. The library is far too cold, and her fingers have become numb and blue. The thick paper feels as rough as sandpaper beneath her delicate skin, chafing against it with a sound so loud it almost blocks out the tap of the heavy footsteps coming from beyond the row of shelves.   
  
Almost.   
  
\---  
  
A sigh escapes her cherry-red lips as he approaches. She sets the book back in its place, calmly awaiting an encounter with another addiction of hers. A habit she really ought to break.   
  
“Snape,” she says, her look appraising.   
  
The years have not been kind to him. His hair, streaked with grey, hangs limply down his back, the ragged ends grazing his shoulder blades. And his jaw, though clean shaven, is riddled with small scars – tiny white snakes that weave in and out of his pale flesh. But his eyes still shine. The only part of him that seems alive.  
  
\---  
  
“Manners, Miss Granger.”  
  
His words are like wildfire, the cold burn infecting her body in a matter of moments, chilling her from the inside out. She shivers, drawing closer, placing her hands upon his chest. It rises sharply at her touch, the black fabric stretching as his lungs fill with dusty air.   
  
“Why?” he asks, his eyes as harsh as sin.   
  
“Because I can.”  
  
Her lips are on his before he can respond, her tongue searching for something he doesn’t have. The tang of medicine, white and viscous, slides down her throat, reminding her of fluorescent lighting and disinfected tiles.   
  
\---  
  
It’s gone too far, the addiction. Touching is forbidden, and she can’t afford to blemish her record with such a natural sin. Not after all she’s worked for. All she has left to give.   
  
So she acts.   
  
Hermione is like a poison; quick and quiet, plunging silver deep to puncture his decaying heart. There are no screams, or tears. He simply pulls away, his face lined with a sadness she cannot imagine. Broken, he falls to the floor, dripping precious rubies.   
  
“Why?” he repeats, his words brilliant red.   
  
She doesn’t reply. She picks up the book and begins to read.


End file.
